Collectors · Developers & tech

GitHub repository search API in Python

Repository search — name, description, language, stars, topics. No token. One POST from Python with query, rows back as JSON with 19 fields, $0.0005 per delivered repository. No proxies or parsers to maintain.

Get an API key See the collector

A Python requests snippet that posts { — A Python requests call to the github_repos collector returns one dict per repository, at $0.0005 each.

First call

Install, call, read the rows.

pip install requests

The only dependency.

import os, requests

r = requests.post(
    "https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/github_repos/run",
    headers={"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"},
    json={
        "query": "web scraper",
        "sort": "stars",
        "max_results": 20,
    },
    timeout=120,
)
r.raise_for_status()
run = r.json()["payload"]
print(run["count"], "rows,", run["cost"]["usd"], "USD")
for row in run["results"]:
    print(row.get("repo"), row.get("owner"), row.get("name"), row.get("description"))

Python: one GitHub repository search run (Per stelle), printing repo, owner, name, description

The key comes from an environment variable, never from the code. The run answers in the same request when it finishes in time; payload.results holds the rows and payload.cost what they cost.

Request parameters

What the collector takes.

Input of the GitHub repository search collector
Parameter	Type	Required	Meaning
`query`	string	yes	Search query — GitHub syntax works ("web scraper language:python stars:>100").
`sort`	string: `best_match`, `stars`, `updated`	no (default best_match)	best_match (default), stars, or updated.
`country`	string	no	ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code — proxy exit geo and Google locale (gl). Omit for the default pool.
`max_results`	integer	no (default 20)	How many repositories to deliver at most (1–50). You pay only for delivered repositories.

Response fields

19 fields per repository.

Fields of each row (repository)
Field	Type	What it holds
`rank`	integer	1-based position.
`repo`	string	owner/name.
`owner`	string, nullable	Owner login.
`name`	string, nullable	Repository name.
`description`	string, nullable	Repo description.
`language`	string, nullable	Primary language.
`stars`	integer, nullable	Star count.
`topics`	string[]	Repo topics.
`archived`	boolean	Archived flag.
`updated_at`	string, nullable	Last update (ISO 8601).
`url`	string	Repository URL.
`forks`	integer, nullable	Fork count.
`open_issues`	integer, nullable	Open issues and pull requests.
`license`	string, nullable	License (SPDX id).
`homepage`	string, nullable	Project homepage.
`created_at`	string, nullable	Repository creation time (ISO 8601).
`default_branch`	string, nullable	Default branch.
`is_fork`	boolean, nullable	Whether the repository is a fork.
`owner_type`	string, nullable	User or Organization.

Add ?format=csv to the runs endpoint to get the same rows as CSV.

Long runs

Run in the background, then poll.

A run that needs more time can go to the background: send "async": true, get 202 with the run id, and poll the runs endpoint until the status is done. Reading a run is free.

import os, time, requests

H = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {os.environ['QD_API_KEY']}"}
r = requests.post("https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/github_repos/run", headers=H,
                  json={**{"query":"web scraper","sort":"stars","max_results":20}, "async": True}, timeout=30)
run_id = r.json()["payload"]["run_id"]
while True:
    run = requests.get(f"https://api.quanticdata.io/v1/scraper/collectors/runs/{run_id}", headers=H, timeout=30).json()["payload"]
    if run["status"] in ("done", "failed"):
        break
    time.sleep(5)
print(run["status"], run["count"])

Python: background run and polling

Errors

What can come back, and what is billed.

Collector run errors
Status	Meaning	Billed
`400`	The input does not match the collector (`payload.errors`)	No
`401`	Missing or wrong API key	No
`402`	Balance and free credit do not cover the run: top up	No
`422`	The input can never resolve; retrying the same input cannot help	No
`424`	The run failed at the source (blocked, timed out, layout changed); safe to retry	No
`429`	Rate limit or a per-account brake; wait for `Retry-After`	No

Only delivered rows are billed: a run that delivers nothing costs nothing.

Price

$0.0005 per delivered repository.

What GitHub repository search rows cost at list price
Rows	Cost
1	$0.0005
1,000	$0.50
10,000	$5.00

Up to 50 repositories per run; split larger jobs into several runs. The $2 free credit every month covers about 4,000 repositories. No subscription; paid tiers lower the unit price. All collector prices: collector pricing.

Before you run it

Questions developers ask

Is there a free GitHub repository search API?

Every account gets $2 of free usage each month, about 4,000 repositories of this collector at $0.0005 each, with no card.

Do I have to handle proxies, retries or blocks?

No. The collector runs on our network and handles them; a run blocked at the source returns 424 and is not billed.

How many rows can one run return?

Up to 50 repositories per run (the max_results input, where the collector has one).

Can an AI agent run it?

Yes: the MCP server exposes it as the run_collector tool, with the same input and price. See the MCP server.

Run it on the free credit.

Create an API key, export it as QD_API_KEY and run the example. $0.0005 per delivered repository, no subscription.

Get an API key GitHub repository search API